War on drugs in Mexico

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Forty-two suspected drug cartel henchmen were killed by Mexican security forces yesterday in one of the bloodiest shoot-outs in a decade of gang violence. One policeman also lost his life in the three-hour gunfight on a ranch in Tanhuato near the Jalisco state border.

Officials say the gunfight began when security forces alerted to an invasion of the ranch, approached the property and were fired upon by a group of armed men. Most of those killed are believed to have been members of Jalisco New Generation, one of the area's most powerful drug cartels, responsible for the deaths of more than two dozen police officers since March.

Mexico's National Security Commission director Monte Alejandro Rubido told a press conference his team recovered 36 long-armed rifles, two handguns, one active grenade launcher, one caliber 50 rifle, and an undetermined number of ammunition.

Yesterday's death toll was one of the heaviest to hit Mexico since president Enrique Pena Nieto took office in December 2012. He's pledged to put an end to years of gangland violence that have claimed more than a hundred thousand lives since 2007 alone.

Difficult words: suspected (when people think that you are guilty of something), henchman (a faithful follower who kills or hurts people), undetermined (not known), death toll (the number of people killed), pledge (to promise), gangland (where gangs are strong).